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Baseball and Entrepreneurship: Go Steal Home Base

I know it’s been a while, but I’m finally back and I have an exciting post about entrepreneurship. So, here it goes!

On Friday I got to sit through a surprisingly interesting training at my job. It was supposed to be focused on master data management (sounds exciting, I know), but somehow we got onto the topic of entrepreneurship. The presenter said something very interesting.

“You have to think of business in terms of baseball.”

I sat there looking at him confused. Baseball? Really? I hate dislike baseball. I happen to think it’s quite boring, especially when it’s on tv. My mom loved the Yankees (Knoblock was her favorite), but I would do anything to avoid watching those games with her. Then, he explained what he meant.

“The two most important things are to steal home and hit a home run.”

Steal home: Reject the status quo and do something crazy (but still legal) that everyone notices. This is hard, but helps you score big points.

Hit a home run: Focus on the bigger picture and score as much as you can as easily as you can. In essence, work smarter, not harder.

Those two ideas hit me hard and fast (see what I did there?) as I realized they were brilliant! As an entrepreneur, what makes your product stand out from the crowd? What makes you so much more interesting and better than your competitors? You have to be willing to take a chance and do something daring and outrageous (like steal home) if you really want to make it big!

Solve them by thinking outside the box!

At the same time, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. Use your brains to outthink your competitors and look at the big picture. How will your product or service be used in five or ten years? How are you making people’s lives easier without completely stressing out your own employees? However, don’t confuse this with a lack of hard work. You still need to put in a lot of effort to make your business great. Every up at bat won’t be a home run so you need to do the other leg work too!

Now, it can be a hard balance to step out of the box while also thinking big picture, but it’s a must do for all new businesses. Like anything else in life, they’re both calculated risks that you must take in order to continue to grow. If you plan it right (as in, look at what you’re currently doing and brainstorm with some trusted partners), you’ll know exactly when you should go for either option!

So, go ahead and take the leap. Steal home base on your first go around and then hit yourself a home run! Who would have thought I might actually start to like baseball?